Beauty Part 20

In persons of this temperament, the countenance is animated; the hair is fair, and inclining to chestnut; the shape is good; the form is softened, though distinct; and the muscles are of tolerable consistence, and moderate development. The whole appearance is generally so amiable, that this temperament may be called that of health, beauty, and happiness.

In the women who present the attributes of their s.e.x with the greatest unity, we distinguish, especially during youth and adult age, the traits of the sanguine temperament, which may be regarded as the most suitable to the organization of woman.

CHAPTER XIV.

THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY--BEAUTY OF THE THINKING SYSTEM.

In woman, the organs of sense are proportionally larger, and the sensibility is more quick and delicate than in man.

Hence, also, the mental quickness and delicacy of woman are greater. Her perceptions succeed with rapidity and intenseness; and the last of them generally predominates. In well-organized women, accordingly, the forehead and the observing faculties are peculiarly developed.

The general nervous system of woman is likewise far more mobile than that of man.

Beauty of the thinking system in woman depends especially upon these fundamental facts, and those tendencies of structure, which thus distinguish her from man.

In the woman possessing THIS SPECIES of beauty, accordingly, the greater development of its upper part gives to the head, in every view, a pyriform appearance;--the face is generally oval;--the high and pale forehead announces the excellence of the observing faculties;--the intensely expressive eye is full of sensibility;--in the lower features, modesty and dignity are often united;--she has not the expanded bosom, the general plumpness, or the beautiful complexion, of the second species of beauty;--and she boasts easy and graceful motion, rather than the elegant proportion of the first.--The whole figure is characterized by intellectuality and grace.

This species of beauty is less proper to woman, less feminine, than the preceding. It is not the intellectual system, but the vital one, which is, and ought to be most developed in woman.

_First Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._

In woman, the nervous extremities appear to be larger than in man; a pulpy appearance is more remarkable in them; and the papillae in which they terminate, appear to have less rigidity.

The organs of sense are proportionally larger, and more delicately outlined. There is indeed in woman more development in the organs of sensation, than in that of understanding, reasoning, and judging; while the contrary is the case in man. The sensations, accordingly, are in woman more acute, and their minute differences are more easily discerned. Man reflects more than he feels: woman always feels more than she reflects.

The FIRST MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in which the development of the organs of sense is proportionally large, and the sensibility greater.

It ought to be observed, that though, in woman, when well organized, the whole head is proportionally less than in man, yet, the organs of sense will be found to be proportionally larger. This sufficiently indicates the importance of such proportional development. Upon it, indeed, depend that increased sensibility and quickness of observation, which are essential to the female character.

_Second Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._

Of all parts of the brain in woman, when well formed, the forehead, especially, is found to be large. Without this, she would have sensibility without observation, a most unhappy condition of the nervous system.

In woman, the brain partakes of the softness of all the other parts of her structure. The cellular tissue which covers it, and which descends between its convolutions, is more abundant, mucous, and loose.

The mind, correspondingly, is more impressed by any new object of thought; the whole nervous system is more extensively affected by impressions on the brain; the propensity to emotion is stronger, and women are more habitually under its influence.

The intimate connexion of the thinking, with a peculiar modification of the reproductive faculties, inspires in woman the want of maternity, which is more powerful than life, and which renders her capable of every sacrifice. a.s.sociated with this, are her affection, tenderness, and compa.s.sion.

Upon the whole, sensibility in woman is greater than understanding; the involuntary play of the imagination, more active than its regulated combinations; and pa.s.sion, generally of the gentler kind, predominates rather than resolve or determination. She has, therefore, more finesse and activity, than depth or force of thought; and her nervous system is also more frequently deranged by accidents unknown to man.

The extent of the brain, anteriorly, is measured by the different degrees of the opening of an angle, which Camper has called the facial angle; and so far it is favorable to woman well conformed; but it gives no notion of the magnitude of the brain superiorly, posteriorly, or laterally.[38]

The brain of woman, however, in general, extends a good deal posteriorly as well as anteriorly, though it narrows in the former of these directions; and, to the proportional length thus acquired, is owing that intensity in her functions, which I have just described. Superiorly, centrally, and laterally, the brain of woman is generally much less than that of man; and hence the want of elevation, depth, and endurance, in her mental faculties.[39]

Upon the whole, the brain of woman is less than that of man, and it is especially less in its superior, central, and, intellectually considered, more important portions.

The SECOND MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in which the development of the brain is proportionally small. This is an evident corollary from what we have just stated as to the first modification of this species; for it is not possible that the organs of sense should be proportionally large, without the rest of the head being proportionally small.

This is not quite conformable with the wishes of phrenology; but we must leave any dispute between that art and nature to its own issue. A Venus, moreover, with a small, yet beautifully proportioned head, is often seen to be the mother of a boy who has a large head; the difference of s.e.x causing a vast modification and difference of development.

_Third Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._

From what has been already said, it may be concluded that, in action or conduct, women are less guided by intellect, and are more biased by feeling and emotion; and it may also be concluded, that all their movements to fulfil the purposes of feeling and emotion, are made in a manner more easy and more prompt, though less sustained. This is increased by the ready obedience of the muscular fibre, and the relative shortness of the stature.

This more easy and less forcible action is perfectly conformable physically with the small and elongated form of the cerebel, or organ of the will, in woman; as it is morally with the part which woman performs in life, and her desire to please, while it is that of man to protect and to defend.

Conformably with the smaller size of the cerebel, and especially with its smaller breadth (the influence of which is explained in the work last referred to), the disposition of woman to sustained exertion, whether mental or bodily, is much less; and hence the character "_varium et mutabile semper foemina_."

It is, then, the prompt and easily-affected sensibility of woman, not her understanding or force of mind, which renders her so eminently fit to be interested in infancy, which enables her to surmount maternal pains by the sentiment of affection and pity, and which makes agreeable to her the cares and the details of housekeeping; and it is this which sometimes renders nothing too irksome or too painful for a mother, a wife, or a mistress, to endure.

Hence, the const.i.tution of woman is perfectly adapted to these functions; hence, her existence is more sedentary than man's; hence, she has more gentleness of character than he; and hence, she is less acquainted with great crimes.

The THIRD MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in which the development of the cerebel or organ of the will, as well as the muscles which it actuates, is proportionally small.

The situation of this considerable organ is in the back and lower part of the head, and may be pretty accurately indicated by saying, that a line pa.s.sing through it would complete, posteriorly, a longer line pa.s.sing backward from the nose through the lower part of the ear.

When this organ, which is that of the will, is high, and more especially when it is large, a determination and force seem to be given by it to the character, which render it the reverse of feminine.

Having spoken here of the ready exercise of the will in woman, and its adaptation to her wish to please, it seems to be here that some circ.u.mstances dependant on these should be noticed.

With this ready exercise of the will and desire to please, are evidently connected the light carelessness, the graceful ease, and the gentle softness, which add so much to the power of beauty. Hence, artists give to woman the bending form which a.s.sociates so well with all her characteristics; for all feel with Hogarth that undulating lines are more or less formed in all movements executed with the intention of expressing sentiments of courtesy, respect, benevolence, or love.

But it is grace that we must especially consider here--grace which directly emanates from this ready exercise of the will and desire to please, especially when combined with observing faculties so perfect and so perpetually active as those of woman.

"Gracefulness," says Burke, "is an idea not very different from beauty; it consists in much the same thing.... Gracefulness is an idea belonging to posture and motion. In both these, to be graceful, it is requisite that there be no appearance of difficulty; there is required a small inflexion of the body; and a composure of the parts in such a manner, as not to enc.u.mber each other, nor to appear divided by sharp and sudden angles. In this ease, this roundness, this delicacy of att.i.tude and motion, it is that all the magic of grace consists, and what is called '_je ne scais quoi_.'"

It is not in these mere physical qualities, that all the magic of grace consists, which, in the state of Burke's knowledge, he might indeed well call "_je ne scais quoi_!" Let the reader hear what is said on this subject by a man who could look a little deeper than Burke, and who owed no fame to the little art of subst.i.tuting a flash of words for depth of thought, and serving by it a venal purpose as little as the art itself.

"What grace," says Smith, "what n.o.ble propriety do we not feel in the conduct of those who exert that recollection and self-command which const.i.tute the dignity of every pa.s.sion, and which bring it down to what others can enter into! We are disgusted with that clamorous grief, which, without any delicacy, calls upon our compa.s.sion with sighs and tears, and importunate lamentation. But we reverence that reserved, that silent and majestic sorrow, which discovers itself only in the swelling of the eyes, in the quivering of the lips and cheeks, and in the distant, but affecting address of the whole behavior. It imposes the like silence upon us; we regard it with respectful attention, and watch over our whole behavior, lest, by any impropriety, we should disturb that concerted tranquillity which it requires so great an effort to support." This is eloquence, indeed.

Alison duly appreciates this earliest definition of grace. "It is," he says, "this 'recollection and self-command,' which in such scenes const.i.tute what even in common language is called the graceful in behavior or deportment; and it is the expression of the same qualities in the att.i.tude and gesture, which const.i.tutes, in my apprehension, the grace of such gestures or att.i.tudes.... Wherever, in the movements of the form, self-command or self-possession is expressed, some degree of grace, at least, is always produced.... Whenever in such motions grace is actually perceived, I think it will always be found to be in slow, and, if I may use the expression, in restrained or measured motions.

"The motions of the horse, when wild in the pasture, are beautiful; when urged to his speed, and straining for victory, they may be felt as sublime; but it is chiefly in movements of a different kind that we feel them as graceful, when, in the impatience of the field, or in the curvetting of the manege, he seems to be conscious of all the powers with which he is animated, and yet to restrain them, from some principle of beneficence or of dignity. Every movement of the stag almost is beautiful, from the fineness of his form and the ease of his gestures; yet it is not in these or in the heat of the chase that he is graceful: it is when he pauses upon some eminence in the pursuit, when he erects his crested head, and when, looking with disdain upon the enemy who follows, he bounds to the freedom of his hills. It is not, in the same manner, in the rapid speed of the eagle when he darts upon his prey, that we perceive the grace of which his motions are capable. It is when he soars slowly upward to the sun, or when he wheels with easy and continuous motion in airy circles in the sky.

"In the personification which we naturally give to all inanimate objects which are susceptible of movement, we may easily perceive the influence of the same a.s.sociation. We speak commonly, for instance, of the graceful motions of trees, and of the graceful movements of a river. It is never, however, when these motions are violent or extreme, that we apply to them the term of grace. It is the gentle waving of the tree in slow and measured cadence which is graceful, not the tossing of its branches amid the storm. It is the slow and easy winding which is graceful in the movements of the river, and not the burst of the cataract, or the fury of the torrent.

"It is only in the perfection of the human system, in the age when the form has a.s.sumed all its powers, and the mind is awake to the consciousness of all the capacities it possesses, and the lofty obligations they impose, that the reign of physical grace commences; and that the form is capable of expressing, under the dominion of every pa.s.sion or emotion, the high and habitual superiority which it possesses, either to the allurements of pleasure or the apprehensions of pain. It is this age, accordingly, which the artists of antiquity have uniformly represented, when they sought to display the perfection of grace, and when they succeeded in leaving their compositions as models of this perfection to every succeeding age."

It is evidently the UNION of all that is good in the varieties now described which renders beauty, in the thinking system, perfect.